Hyperdimension Neptunia: Death and Rebirth
by BlancHammer
Summary: A what-if sequel to the original HDN game based on an original Bad End where Neptune and company lost against Arfoire. Contains elements from all three PS3 games as well as re;birth 1. Also contains OCs and an Author-Avatar as the main character. No pairings except Nepgear x Uni(maybe). Rating may increase.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for OCs and the plot.

* * *

_This if fucking boring_ thought our protagonist and sighed. He was currently in a lecture about linear algebra and one might think he would try to actually learn something, especially considering how bad he's at math, instead of reading bad self-insertion fan fiction.

_Seriously, is it _this_ hard not to make your OCs invincible, flawless gods?_

Time passed and as he made his way home he started monologuing, something he did often, _very_ often.

_Can't blame them though. Seriously, this world is so boring it's no surprise people are imagining themselves going on an adventure, especially if it's in their favourite world. But they should really practice their writing and take some grammar lessons while they're at it._

As he continued his rambling he eventually arrived at his destination. Briefly greeting his parents, he made his way to his room, sat down, grabbed some paper and started writing.

"If you don't like it then do it yourself." Is something he was told often and so he did.

A few hours later he finished the first chapter of his fanfic and re-read it to make sure he didn't make any mistakes. His face went pale and his self-confidence shattered as he realized he was just as bad, if not worse, as the people he flamed earlier.

He ripped apart and burned the paper to make sure no one ever knew of his failure before dropping onto the bed, his consciousness soon fading.

* * *

Meanwhile in Gamindustri, somewhere on Planeptune in an abandoned Basilicom, a certain fairy was searching through her all-knowing tome.

"How's it goin'?" came Croire's voice as she entered the room.

"It looks like it will still take some time, although I am certain it would be faster if you stopped asking me every few minutes." Answered the room's original occupant, Histoire, without taking her eyes off the book.

"Bitch I wouldn't be askin' every minute if you actually let me out of here."

"You have done too much damage already. Who knows what you might do if I'd let you go outside unsupervised."

"C'mon, I'm perfectly harmless. If I still had my powers I wouldn't be wastin' my time here in the first place. " Turning around Croire flew towards a window and looked outside.

It was a dark night and heavy rain hit the windows' glass. In the distance one could see something that looked like holes in the sky and large boulders floating in the air.

"I found one!" came Histoires voice suddenly. "'Bout time." answered Croire and turned around, flying towards Histoire who was currently standing, or rather floating, in front of a light pillar while some sort of black mass was growing inside of the Pillar.

* * *

Back to the main character who was… still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the darkness which was seeping from every corner of his room and how it started crawling toward him. It didn't take long before he was completely covered by it and as soon as it came it disappeared, leaving no trace of its victim.

Scene transition… again.

This time it was a large open area, with metal floor, holographic rings along the path, rows of numbers running through the air and massive tubes everywhere. In the distance appeared a large beam of light and at the same time a dark ball appeared and immediately vanished revealing the so-far nameless main character, who happened to be waking up right now.

Groaning he opened his eyes and stood up. Looking around he said to himself: "Where the hell am I?" Seeing a pair of Pixelvaders playing not too far from him he quickly reached a conclusion. 'A dream… of course, how could I think this was anything else? Anyway, time to wake up.'

Rolling up his sleeve, he rammed his nails into his arm and winced at the very real pain. 'I should've just pinched my arm, why do I have to overdo everything.'

Now fully awake he once again observed his surroundings. 'This place seems oddly familiar, especially those little guys.' Looking at the Pixelvaders, who seemed to play tag, he heard a voice.

Turning towards it, he saw a pair of lights flying in his direction and as they came closer he saw that the lights were a pair of girls… flying on books. One of them wore a purple dress with detached sleeves, white thigh-highs, translucent butterfly wings, blond hair which she wore in twin-tails and a hat with a purple N on it. The other one wore a darker, sleeveless dress and a cape, had pointier wings, short hair with a lighter shade of blonde and tanned skin.

"Welcome," began the twin-tailed one as the pair reached him, "I apologize for summoning you so… roughly but we need your help in order to save our world." Upon hearing the save-the-world-part he raised his hand towards her face to interrupt her: "Wait a minute, I have no Idea what you're talking about, mostly the summoning part. Also, what are you? Where is this place and what the hell is going on?" _And why does she seem so familiar?_

A little surprised by the torrent of questions, Histoire asked: "Didn't you notice the black mass which brought you here?"

"I woke up in this place and there was nothing like that 'black mass' before I went to sleep".

"I… see." Clearing her throat she began: "Then let explain from the beginning. I am Histoire. I am this worlds everything and this world is my everything." seeing his confused look she continued "It means everything within this world is recorded in my tome and likewise every change in its contents is reflected by this world-"

"So your this worlds god?"

"I would appreciate it if you stopped interrupting me mid-sentence; and no, this worlds, Gamindustri's, goddesses are the CPUs. Only with their permission am I able to alter the tome's contents."

"Hold on, Gamindustri? CPUs? And these Space Invader rip-offs, wasn't there a game about that stuff? What was it called again... anyway the pranks over. Well done, I actually believed this was another world until you began your explanation." Although he had doubts since the beginning he was still disappointed at his own naivety.

"I assure you this is not a prank. How can I make you believe me? "

Picking the easiest method he wasted no time answering:"Let me fly on your book."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Sighing she shifted around to make room for him to stand on. After checking for wires etc. and making sure it really was a normal book he hopped on. Immediately they flew up twenty meters, barely able to stay atop the tome he immediatly regreted his Idea and whimpered: "Get down, please get down. I believe you just get me on solid ground."

And so they did.

Cursing his fear of non land-based transportation he gestured towards Histoire to continue her Explanation. "Moving on, several years ago Neptune, the CPU of Planeptune, lost a fight against the other CPUs and fell from Celestia to Gamindustri where she lost her memory. After some time she made new comrades, freed me from my prison and eventually reconciled with her fellow CPUs before returning to Celestia where she fought and defeated Arfoire, the former holder of the title of 'True Goddess'. However when Arfoire used up all of her power and seemed defeated this troublemaker here," she turned towards Croire who was currently teasing the Pixelvader pair, "appeared and made her stronger than ever before. Neptune and the others weren't strong enough to defeat her this time and the CPUs sacrificed themselves in order to seal Arfoire within Celestia and allow the CPU candidates and their friends to escape. After the CPUs were gone the candidates had to take over their places as the rulers of the four nations. However, the sudden loss of their sisters as well as the burden of having to run a nation on their own so suddenly resulted in heavy mental burden for them. The People lost their faith in the new CPUs and more people started worshipping Arfoire. Their subjects faith is a source of power of a CPU and without they can't keep monsters from attacking the cities which made the situation even worse. Currently the CPUs are using all of their energy to protect their citizens and no longer trust each other, as they fear that another CPU might steal their shares. "

Histoire stopped and looked in the distance with a sad expression.

"Wow… that's… depressing."

Turning back towards the still unnamed Man she continued.

"It is. Now, the reason I summoned you was because you are capable of saving this world. Please we need your help."

"After hearing this Story I'd have to be a heartless monster to say no, but why me? How am I supposed to save this world? I'm weak, I have trouble talking with other people, let alone trusting them and I have worse Stamina than a five-year old. So how am I supposed to help anybody?" Despite being the one who said it he was still getting deppresive at being reminded of his own weaknesses.

"The only way I can think of is finding the former-CPUs essence and restoring their powers.", Histoire answered.

"Their Essence?"

"You could call it their soul, while their physical bodies might be gone a part of them remains somewhere in this world since they weren't actually killed."

"Well that's something, but you said there are monsters everywhere, how am I supposed to defeat them?"

"This is why I brought Croire. If you accept the responsibility to save this world she can give you power. Be aware however that it is the same power that turned Arfoire into a monster. I won't blame you if you decline."

"If, just if, I were to decline what would you do?"

Histoire closed here eyes. "We would return you to your world and search for another person who has the ability to save our world. You were just the first person we found so you don't have to feel obligated to help."

_Thankfully it's none of that chosen Hero nonsense._ Nodding to himself he answered: "I accept."

Smiling Histoire said: "Very well, Croire come over here."

Seeing as the exposition was done Croire returned to the other two.

"I thought you'd never stop talking, now let's get this over with so I can finally get outta here."

A black and purple flame appeared in her hand and she looked at the man with a grin. Confused he opened his mouth to ask what she was planning to do when Croire proceeded to shove the flame down his throat.

After he swallowed the flame, however that is supposed to work, the same black mass which brought him here engulfed his body once again. Once it disappeared he looked at himself. He was a bit shorter than before and his messy copper coloured hair, which now was held in place with a D-pad shaped hairpin, reached down to his chest. His clothes changed too. He now wore a vest with a strip of cloth reaching down his right arm in place of a sleeve and was completely covered in armbands. He also wore gloves, short boots, a short skirt with shorts underneath and a piece of cloth at his rear which was tied around his waist. _Wait a minute_.

"This is the first time I've seen that power gives you a sex change." He said bluntly. While he, or rather she, was surprised she was expecting something far weirder. After thoroughly examining her new body she noticed that Histoire stopped moving. As she looked at Histoire Croire flew up to them and shouted: "Have fun dealing with those guys!" Wondering what Croire meant she turned around and saw two _very_ pissed Pixelvaders.

"Umm Histoire? You don't happen to have a weapon with you, do you?"

No reaction as she was motionlessly floating in place with a blank expression on her face.

_Let's just hope dark powers let you summon weapons._ Focusing her mind she imagined a single-edged longsword and with a flash of light it appeared in her hand just in time to block a charge from Pixelvader #1.

She tried to gain some distance by jumping back but failed miserably, quite obvious if you consider the changes to her body. Looking up she saw both Pixelvaders charging at her and had no time react and was hit hard by both of them.

_Come on, who loses a tutorial battle._ Getting up once again, she reacted fast enough to dodge some shots fired by Pixelvader 2 and parried a third charge by 1.

"You sure like charging don't you? Now it's time for payback!"

After focusing her power she performed two quick upward slashes, the first launching the Pixelvader in the air and the second one sending a x-shaped swordwave after it, making it fly far enough to drop into the abyss below the stage. Turning around she saw how the remaining Pixelvader turned black, he became faster and his shots bigger making them harder to dodge.

"Would someone explain what just happened?" she called towards the two fairies. Histoire, who finally recovered from her genderbending-induce bluescreen , answered after a moment of assessing the situation: "It became viral. It happens sometimes when a monster becomes agitated. In this state they're generally stronger and other monsters can become infected as well. It happens because Arfoire's influence became so strong."

Meanwhile, during Histoire's explanation, the combatant was trying to think of a way to defeat the now viral Pixelvader. _At least it doesn't have HP regeneration. But how am I supposed to get through this barrage?_

Using her experience with shoot'em'up games she edged closer barely dodging most of the shots and blocked with her sword those which would directly hit her. While it did work for some time she reached the point where she could no longer keep up with the amount of bullets. In her desperation she couldn't think of another way win other than throwing her sword. As stupid as throwing away your weapon may be, it would at least serve as a distraction so she could get close and kick the enemy into the abyss. After short mental preparation she threw the sword and prepared to run the moment it stopped firing when the unexpected happened.

The sword hit…

Impaled right between the eyes.

Heaving a sigh of relief she collapses. Histoire and Croire came flying over and the latter said: "Man, you suck at fighting. "

"Shut up, this was my first time."

"Whatever, my job is done which means I'm free again."

Saying this she flew off and Histoire turned towards the Heroine.

"This reminds me, I've never asked for your name, did I?"

"No you didn't." She stood up and checked her injuries, which weren't nearly as bad as they felt."Just call me Vic."

As they made their way out of the area the finally named main character Vic asked: "Why did you summon me in a monster infested area anyway?"

"This Area used to be a Basilicom, but lately the dimensional borders have been unstable and Areas like this one emerge in places which have been damaged too much. When you were brought here the space collapsed and this is the result."

"I see."

After some more walking the two reached the exit. Vic was visibly shocked when she saw the state Planeptune was in. The Lands were barren, most of the smaller islands were broken, the forest are mostly dead and there are monsters everywhere.

"You said it was bad but I didn't think it would be this bad."

"It is sad but that is why we need you to restore the former CPUs. Now then first we should return to the capital, the CPU, Nepgear, is waiting."

And with that they marched onward.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Welcome to my very first Fanfic, first I want to say that I don't expect to do a good job from the beginning. It requires a lot of learning therefore I'd be happy about any and all forms reviews, even flaming is welcome so go ahead and complain about every mistake I made.

Secondly an explanation is in order for why Croire is doing what Histoire tells her and her last sentence before disappearing. Arfoire took most of Croire's power during her power-up which is how she could be captured after everyone fled from Celestia. The Candidates which were now full-fledged CPU had the authority to allow Histoire to rewrite parts of her tome. The specific part was forcing Croire to help Histoire in finding a way to restore the world, which happened to be summoning some random guy and giving him dark powers. I couldn't find a way to incorporate it into the chapter, especially since Vic has no reason to question here behavior.

Until next time everyone.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Review time:

SpeckTech: In order:

It happens.

Not really, I'm just using re;birth 1's explanation for the candidates existence.

Vic was indifferent for a reason and the others were either speechless (Histoire) or just didn't care.

Aside from his clothes he barely changed, so unless you imagine male Vic with manboobs she is flat.

Anon: I agree, the Neptunia series doesn't need males. And the Noire bashing will mostly depend on the mood of the story once she appears.

This took longer than expected, and the formatting was horrible, but here you have the second chapter of Hyperdimension Neptunia: Death and Re;birth( doesn't allow me to use a semicolon in the title).

* * *

It has been a few hours since Histoire and Vic left the extra-dimensional space, which shall henceforth be named "8-bit Dungeon", and the sun rose above the land while they passed through Virtua Forest.

The Trip itself was fairly uneventful, save for a few Battles against low-level monsters, and consisted mostly of Histoire explaining the basic Information about Gamindustri while Vic was getting used to her newfound power and body.

Eventually the pair reached the entrance of Planeptune's capital and shortly thereafter they were approached by a panicked looking Guard.

"Lady Histoire there you are!"

Somewhat surprised Histoire asks:"Did something happen while I was gone?"

"Yes, it's another protest about the CPU neglecting her Duty." looking nervous she lowered her voice and continued:"Also, the CPU is currently nowhere to be found. "

_In her own way this girl is becoming more and more like her sister_ thought Histoire and after a short sigh she told the guard: "She is probably looking for me since I was gone longer than intended. Lady Purple Heart is most likely around the Area of the old Basilicom to the west of here, send someone to search for her. I will go and talk to the protesters myself"

Turning towards Vic she continued:"As you have heard I have an urgent matter to attend to, so you should go ahead to the Planeptune Tower and wait for me. You can't miss it, it's the highest building in this city."

Turning back to the guard she motioned for her to lead the way and flew off.

'I sure hope I won't get involved in this political nonsense.' Thought Vic and without getting to say a single line she started walking toward her destination.

* * *

_How the hell did this happen?_ thought Vic who was currently lost and somehow ended up in a dark back alley.  
_I walked straight toward the tower and followed the main road, so why did I end up here?  
_Looking around she couldn't see the tower, let alone a way out.  
_Oh well, I'm sure I'll get out somewhere if I keep walking straight._

Full of confidence she was going to keep searching for a way out, only to be distracted by a familiar voice:"I can't believe that damn Bitch tricked me! Now I'm stuck in this world and can't even do anything to have fun.."

In case you didn't figure it out on your own, it was Croire. Being too fixated on her rage she didn't notice Vic as she approached her.

"You sure sound happy."

"Gah! Don't startle me like that! And no I'm not happy Dumbass."

"It's called sarcasm. You should try it too, it's much more fun than simply insulting people." Vic answered mockingly. After putting on her regular expression she continued:"What's the matter anyway? When you flew off you said something about being free again."

"It's that book idiot, I was forced to help her until she finds someone to clean up the mess I caused six years ago, but even though you took the job I still didn't get my powers back."

"Wasn't your power the ability to give others a super-powered evil side?"

"No, I can take a person's abilities and transfer them to someone else but that's not what I meant. I was talking about my ability to travel across dimensions."

"Sounds like the perfect combination for some awesome pranks."

"You bet!" Croire seemed happier for some reason, probably because she thought she found someone who understood her sense of humor.

While the two were discussing prank Ideas someone approached them from the top of a building.

"Stop right there criminals!" the person shouted.

Startled Vic turned around and looked up, seeing the source of the noise. It was a young man in a skintight suit, who was also wearing a red scarf and had somewhat long, blue hair.

"Your days of villainy are over, now that Gamindustri's defender of justice, Nisa, has arrived!"

Looking at Croire Vic asked:"What the hell is wrong with this guy and what is he talking about?"

However, before she could get an answer Nisa, who was enraged at being called a guy, shouted:"How dare you call me a man! I was planning to go easy on you if you surrendered and reflected on your sins, but now I won't show any mercy! Take this, Justice Kick!"

Screaming her attacks name at the top of her lungs, she jumped down the building and performed a burning dive kick aimed at Vic's face.

Warned by Nisa's shout she was able to barely avoid the attack by twisting her body to the side, though some hairs still got burnt, and immediately summoned her sword while jumping back to gain some distance.

_Crap that was close. S_canning the area for anything she could use to her advantage she tried to calm her opponent:"Look I'm sorry for assuming you were a man but that's no reason to try to kill me!"

"Don't think you can talk your way out! I don't know who you are but I won't forgive anyone who sides with that woman!"

In this moment Vic remembered Histoire's words and realized that her anger was justified, after all she _was_ being friendly with Croire so it's not surprising that Nisa assumed she was a criminal.

_Still, that's no reason to try to kill me._

Charging at Vic, Nisa pulled out her Prinnygun and fired a few shots followed by changing it into its sword-form and continuing with flurry of slashes, to which Vic responded by dodging, not wanting to test whether her sword can block energy-based weapons.

Using the minimum amount of movement to allow the beams to graze her, she was able to focus entirely on Nisa's slashes and search for a way to evade all of them. Seeing no blind spot in her offense she decided to jump back and grabbed onto a nearby escape ladder. Jumping of Vic performed a revised version of her special attack, firing a pair of shockwaves at Nisa followed by a downward slash.

Nisa in response simply took the first two hits and blocked the last one with her sword. _Huh, so it can block beam weapons. _Dropping her sword Nisa grabbed her opponents and proceeded to try to punch Vic in the face. Vic reacted by dismissing her own sword and leapt back which resulted in Nisa losing her balance because she put too much strength into her punch.

Using this chance Vic re-summoned her blade and jumped above her, performing an axe-kick against Nisa's head, followed by a horizontal downward slash which send a crescent shaped shockwave into her back.

Because of the sudden counterattack, and her head hitting the floor, Nisa needed a moment to recover. This was enough time for Vic to grab Croire and run away as fast as she could.

Seeing the pair run away Nisa muttered: "Damn, I'll get you next time.", and fell back to the ground.

* * *

A few minutes of running later Vic finally arrived at her destination and soon saw Histoire in front of the Entrance. The Fairy was currently talking to a woman with long brown hair and an oversized coat.

As she noticed Vic she motioned for her to come closer and said:"You sure took your time.", seeing her condition she added:"What happened?"

"I was attacked by some justice-loving psycho. Anyway, why did I need to come here again?"

"There are still several things I have to tell you before you can go and fulfill your mission, but first I have to introduce you to someone." At this moment the other woman stepped forward and reached out her hand.

"I'm IF, current leader of the guild and an old friend of Neptune."

Vic shook her hand and introduced herself as well:"I'm Vic, the one who's supposed to clean up this mess."

"Now then, we should go inside before I continue the explanation." , continued Histoire.

When they were about to enter the Building Croire interrupted them by shouting at the other Fairy.

"You Bitch lied to me! You said I'd be free to do whatever I want if I helped you find someone who could fix this world!"

"You should learn to express yourself in a more civilized manner. And I didn't lie to you, you are no longer forced to follow my orders."

"Then give me back my remaining powers so I can get the hell outta here!"

"If you are talking about your ability to travel between dimensions then I can't help you. It wasn't me who took away your abilities to begin with."

"Then who was it!"

"I don't know."

Boiling with rage she flew off into the distance, probably to find people to mess with in order to improve her mood.

After making sure she was gone the trio went inside the tower.

They were in a dark yet brightly lit room and Histoire was about to start her explanation:"You already know what happened after the battle against Arfoire so I'll continue with what happened in the six years between the battle and your arrival.

Shortly after the battle a series of natural disasters occurred, like a random boulder leaving its orbit and crashing into a town which was close by for example, which were a heavy blow to the respective nations, especially Lastation since they were rapidly growing at the time.  
Because it happened right after the new CPUs coronation people started blaming them for the disasters or their inability to prevent them.  
Lowee was the first Nation to recover, because the Guild's Headquarters is located in Lowee they were able to quickly provide help to the affected Areas.  
Ironically since the people of Planeptune didn't have much faith in the CPU to begin with the situation barely changed.  
Lastation and Leanbox however were affected the most. Because of the former CPU's recent policy, the large corporations in Lastation were trying to control the Nation themselves.  
She wanted to provide every company with the freedom it needed to grow, however the result was a few powerful companies dominating the market and by employing large parts of the population they held a certain degree of political power as well.  
Leanbox on the other hand was in turmoil to begin with since the former CPU abolished the Aristocracy shortly before the battle against Arfoire, and the Nobles were trying to reclaim their former influence; furthermore the CPU didn't have a sister of her own and one of Lowee's candidates took over the position.  
It was also around that time when the new CPUs declared to support the Guild instead of branding them as heretics and employed the oracles, such as myself.  
Any questions so far?"

Vic took a moment to memorize all the Information before asking:"Yes, you said that the CPUs distrust each other, but it seems like they're working together quite well."

"Sadly it was only in the beginning, the reason for this is… well…"

"They are constantly depressed and get offended by everything you say." interjected IF.

"I wouldn't put it that way but she is right.

Nepgear is always complaining about her sister leaving her alone and having so much work because Neptune was such a slacker; Uni's inferiority complex got even worse because she can't keep up with her sisters working habits; Rom is afraid of everyone and isolated herself because one of her sisters died and the other lives in another nation and became her enemy; and Ram is simply being overwhelmed by her work; being separated from her sisters and having to rule a foreign nation create an additional burden for her.  
Moving on, some years later, under the order of their respective CPU, Planeptune and Lastation started a massive armament plan as a means to get the monsters under control, with Lowee and Leanbox following soon after, however because of one guard's mistake it resulted almost in a war between the four nations.  
Since then, the protests for a CPU-less government, which began shortly after the series of disasters I mentioned earlier, greatly increased in numbers and they get larger with each day."

"Wait a moment. Weren't they all comrades? Moreover you said the Candidates were born just before the final battle. Are you seriously trying to tell me that a bunch of moody little girls were about to start a world war?"

"A Nation is more than just its leaders you know.", answered IF in Histoires place.

"Point taken, please continue."

"Now then, that's it as far as recent history goes. Now for your mission, as I said before you have to search for the former CPUs essence in order to be able to revive them. I will try to provide you with any clues to their whereabouts I can find, however searching through my tome requires a long time and I have a duty to support Nepgear, therefore you have to search on your own most of the time."

"You would hardly need to summon someone from another dimension if all she had to do would be picking up and delivering some Items."

"Right, IF if you would please." At Histoire's cue IF stepped forward and continued where Histoire left off:

"Currently several guild agents are searching for clues where the essence's could be hidden. Earlier this day we sent someone to the place where the Neptune found the Key Fragment six years ago since it's one of the more likely places for them to be hidden at. Honestly, I'm surprised we haven't thought of that place earlier.

Until the agent returns with more Information, I'll give you intensive training, because if you keep fighting the way Histoire told me just now you'll be dead before you even reach that place."

"I was kinda overwhelmed by the situation and didn't think it through beforehand."

"Those were Pixelvaders, children hunt them for fun."

Realizing just how pathetic she was, Vic couldn't help but sigh and accepted her fate.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Turns out this Chapter felt longer than it actually was. Also this was my first fight scene which didn't consist of random moves, enemies capable of only one attack and really stupid decisions on the main characters side; and I really like how it turned out.

Until next time everyone.


End file.
